Frank Bruni’s Last Tips: Say No to Truffle Oil

As everybody in the know knows, Frank Bruni is no longer the food critic at the NY Times.

Having spent two years in Roma for the NYTimes, before moving to NY to write about food and restaurants, Frank Bruni was/is very familiar with real Italian food. One more reason to read Bruni’s articles in the NYTimes with much attention. In particular, I loved “Good Tips at the End of His Meals“. It was his last article, much more important than his weekly writings. Don’t you agree? In his last tips to navigate a menu, he wrote: “then, scratch off anything that mentions truffle oil”. I.e., do not order anything with truffle oil.

GRAZIE, Frank Bruni! It’s a battle we at Gustiamo have been fighting for 10 years, since we started. We always refused to carry truffle olive oils [We clearly say why on our website, here]. We always refused to mix our selection of Italy’s Best Foods with a mediocre product made with chemicals. Yes, it is a popular product and it gives high profit margins. No big margin could pay Gustiamo’s loss of reputation and conscience. Frank Bruni, thank you for your support and good luck!

old friend larry jaffe here in ohio……i hope all is well with you ?
what about truffe oil we bht while in italy “right from the winery and olive grower….smelled and tasted so good, ill get you the name tomorrow….any chance you ever again get the fantastic buffala mozerrela u once had? best regards larry jaffe
ALSO…ANY CHANCE TO GET A SMALL AMT OF WHITE TRUFFLES? WITHOUT GETTING CRAZY EXPENSE?

ciao Larry! great to hear from you. all well, here. fyi, truffle oil made with real truffles does not exist. a very good producer of olive oil friend of ours also picks truffles; he tried to make truffle oil with real truffles. putting aside the fact that it was unbelievable expensive, the smell of truffles had vanished after a month in the bottle. if you smell truffle in the olive oil, it can only happen if they add a chemical essence. our friend is now making truffle oil as everybody does, with the chemical essence.
we miss our mozzarella di bufala, too. keep thinking about it, but until we reach higher volumes, we can’t import it.
truffles: we are at a loss, too. Martina was also asking me, the other day where we could buy them. i don’t know.